Public health and natural disasters

Managing pandemics in general practice

The demand for general practice services will generally increase in the event of a pandemic. It is therefore essential that general practices are well prepared to respond to pandemics such as influenza, both from a clinical and business continuity perspective. It is also important that general practices include as part of a plan for the management of pandemics, actions and tasks around prevention as well as recovery from the impacts of a pandemic.

The RACGP has developed a number of resources which support general practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and illnesses, safeguard the safety of practice staff and continue to provide high quality clinical care to patients in the event of pandemic.

The Pandemic Flu Kit

The pandemic flu kit is a 3-part resource which provides the practice team with information to build knowledge and competency in managing the impact of a pandemic.

This resource is a collection of operational documents developed to support general practices in their preparedness and response efforts. This toolkit comprises pandemic planning templates, triage algorithms and scripts.

Posters

The RACGP has also developed a range of posters designed to communicate prevention and preparedness strategies and tips to patients.